Thursday, November 28, 2013

Sweet Summer by Kumiko Mae





Inspired by Bebe Moore Campbell's Sweet Summer

When she left, all women went out of my life.

Now, there are only surfaces that meet at a far point. I see no height, no measures to move since the day she had gone. I only have the occasional wine as reminder of every red dress I was supposed to wear--each indecency we wanted to share.

But there are also days of joy when I forget she exists, or existed. On those vague hours I live with five missing years in my life. It is less whole, you can only imagine, but at least it's also less tepid to drink from. My words are suddenly all mine and I feel free; free from a failed life and a rotting dream.

Until she resurfaces in the form of gods and muses. Sometimes I hear her in a familiar laughter or taste. An evening a-buzz with the enchanting ecosystem of cicadas and I'd be in bed, five feet away a small cable TV. A silent but aggravated release of air from a stranger's lips and I'd be taken back to a game of green mangoes and cards. These are the ghosts she left for me to fear; while, all the women are shadow, physically impossible to hold, always leeching off another's light.

- Kumiko Mae, a Beauty Blogger from the Philippines

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Wednesday, November 13, 2013

After the Storm by Kumiko Mae





I'm oblivious to the world
around me
     a silent tear
     uncontrollable things
     wind speaking through
     rusty pipes.
Then some days I wonder
why do cats
     have nine lives
     balance by instinct
     fall from known heights
     meow when it's quiet
Never say a thing at all.

Last week the skies
cleansed my land
of sins and laughter
scraped the smile off children
and the life off the well-lit streets
of Christmas
and unlimited spaghetti,
sweet but weird, says the foreign tongue.

So rumors spark
how friends eat friends
and cold strangers warm
hunger-stricken families
left without a choice, but to.
And I sit in the dark
embraced by the illegal glory
named Michelle,
asking for one thing to hold on to.

Perhaps Bioflu
a master drug
a solution to every pain
But I wouldn't really know because
I am oblivious to the noise,
     Hope in people
     Helping to uplift
     Nameless heroes
     Napoles scam.

Fortunately, the strings continue to sing
And it's everywhere,
You'll see. 

- Kumiko Mae, a Beauty Blogger from the Philippines

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